A Photo Encounter
by Little Tsu
Summary: Prompto had woken up bright and early to take some photos like he had often done throughout their travels so far. However, this time, his love for photography will bring him and his Chocobo to an encounter he honestly hadn't expected.


_Little Tsu: Nothin' much right now, but another test area ta see how I do with this subject._

 **A Photo Encounter**

Humming the Chocobo song to himself in a cheerful, upbeat manner, a young, freckle-faced blonde woke up bright and early as he slipped out of the tent that he and his friends had been sharing. The sun was only just beginning to slowly light up the sky for dawn to take place of the once starry night sky. Prompto had been in an even more happy mood due to the fact that their group had been renting out Chocobos a lot lately for several days at a time. In fact, this was one of those such times as they were only into day three of a full week of having their rentals. Most of the Chocobos were still sound asleep like his friends were, but one Chocobo had actually stirred at the sight of him being awake and rose up onto her talons as he walked on over to him.

Smiling brightly at the morning welcome, Prompto reached out his hands and gently stroked the teal feathers of his own companion. "Heyyy there, Levi. How's my favorite girl doing? You sleep ok?" As he got a soft little wark in response to his questions and a light nuzzle with the large beak against the side of his head, he chuckled softly, himself as he nodded a bit. "Guess you wanna go out for some fun too, huh girl? Well, while the others are asleep, you and me will head on out and take some awesome pictures. Just make sure we don't get caught by any of the monsters, ok Levi?" Receiving another soft wark in compliance to his instructions, the blonde eagerly grabbed the reins and mounted onto the back of his favorite Chocobo. They had each named their Chocobo, but while Gladiolus and Ignis were less attached to their own amber and mauve Chocobos, he and his best friend, Noctis were quite attached to theirs; always petting and spending time with them. Noctis' own Chocobo was a pale grey one that he had named Fenrir.

As he and Levi - which he had given her the shortened name for Leviathan - went for their early morning jog to shoot the wild life and scenery around the area, Prompto couldn't help but find himself enjoying the open skies and land the more time he and his friends spent journeying and found himself slowly becoming less of a 'city boy' in a sense. Sure he still had his moments, but he had started to see a lot of the appeal to traveling all over the world...

Snapping a picture that he caught of a Behemoth from a safe distance and standpoint atop of a rocky overhang, he pulled his camera away to check his latest masterpiece with a smile still upon his features. However, as he got a look at the picture he took, his brows suddenly furrowed as he seemed to notice something off about it. "Huh? Is that-?" Shaking his head lightly, he quickly brought his camera back up to his face and zoomed in on the large beast as best he could. What he saw with the beast that seemed to have been fighting with something that he wanted to eat had caused his eyes widened upon recognizing what it was that the burly beast was fighting with. "What the-?! Whoa! Hey, Levi. We gotta get down there fast, girl. Someone's in trouble over there."

Glancing behind herself slightly at her human friend's urgent tone, she warked in understanding and, with a ruffle of her feathers, she quickly shoved off the rocky cliff with her right large taloned foot and extended out her wings as she glided both herself and her precious human safely to the ground below them. Upon landing safely like she had planned, the moment her talons touched the grassy ground, she pushed off, kicking up grass in her wake as she charged in towards the battle. Yes, she still remembered the times when she and her fellow Chocobo back at the Wiz Chocobo Post had been terrorized and attacked by the brutal Behemoth, Deadeye, but ever since her rider and his other human friends had killed the beast and rented them out so often to the point of them getting much stronger and braver, she had the tendency to actually enter the fights with her friend and help him; to protect him to the best of her abilities no matter what the enemy ended up being, whether it was to fight alongside him or help him escape when the enemy was simply too powerful.

As they finally began to quickly close in on their intended targets, both Prompto and Levi heard a loud and fierce wark from right behind them, only to then see a rush of black feathers race passed them in a speedy sprint. Blinking slightly in slight surprise by the sight of not just the sudden appearance of a black Chocobo, but also said large bird leaping high up into the air and lashing his talons right at the Behemoth's face, they slowed to a halt as the massive beast hit the ground from the pain and was struggling to get back up and get its barrings back from the attack striking it right in the eye; gouging it right out. As they stood there in a bit of a dumbfounded manner, a yell suddenly called out towards them, snapping Prompto out of his shock.

"Hey! Ya gonna jus' sit there on yer bird an' gawk or are ya gonna help out?! You're in the way if ya plan on jus' stayin' put there!"

Shaking his head quickly, Prompto dismounted from Levi and fluidly pulled out his handgun as he fired off a charged round at the beast right in the hole where its eye used to be; the beast finally stilling in its movements when not just his attack landed critical blow, but also the rapid fire of a crossbow sliced into the creature's neck. Sighing softly as the fight seemed to end, he holstered his gun back into place at his hip while his teal Chocobo leaned in and nudged him lightly with her beak as if to make sure he was ok even though he was completely unscathed and never targeted. Raising his hand to pat her beak gently in reassurance, his gaze finally landed upon the owner of the voice that had yelled out at him. Ash black hair in a choppy mess around their shoulders with some of it held up in a messy ponytail in the back and goggles strapped around their forehead was a girl that honestly couldn't have been no older than he was; maybe even a tad bit younger.

Watching the girl carefully as she motioned the black Chocobo to her side, Prompto spied the Machinery that the girl slung around with extreme ease as she hooked it up to a secured and strong holster on one side of the Chocobo. Cocking his head slightly, he noticed other things about the large bird. Not only did it have the reins and saddle that all regular Chocobos had, this one also carried around that holster on one side and what looked to be a decent sized travel pack on the other with what looked to be a rolled up tent and/or sleeping bag between the saddle and the tail feathers. On top of that, the black Chocobo had guards attached to the front of their legs below the bend, a chest plate, and a partial helmet that covered the top portion of their head and beak; a strong, but secure looking leather strap strapped around their head and under the chin to keep it firmly in place.

"...Ya sure do gawk a lot, kid. Ya a city boy or somethin'? Ya act like ya've never seen a Combat Chocobo before."

"Uh...what?...What, no. I'm not a city boy. Well, I mean, I am, but right now I'm not cause I'm traveling with some pals of mine on this whole quest thing and-...Did you say Combat Chocobo?" Babbling nervously as he tried to explain himself to the mystery girl before him, his state of thought suddenly derailed and veered off course when he realized what she said last. "What's a Combat Chocobo?"

"Ha. So ya've never heard o' one, eh? Figures since ya were gawkin' like ya were at my buddy, Tiamat, here. He's quite the fighter so ya best not try ta tangle with this one if'n ya value yer parts, that is, heh...Combat Chocobos are rare lately, but they're ones that are raised since chicks ta fight in combat alongside their partner." Smirking over at the new arrival as her crimson eyes narrowed slyly, she took in his appearance for a moment before nodding faintly to herself. He certainly had a bit of that whole city boy air to himself, but even though it had only been one strike from him, she could tell that he knew how to fight. The young man was skilled in firearms with that deadly precision of his so she put him at having possibly been a Crownsguard or something else before the Imperials went and backstabbed the king like they did and took over the Crown City...

...Come to think of it, hadn't one of her fellow mercenaries mentioned something about how Prince Noctis and his friends were actually alive and hadn't been killed during that attack?

...Only one way to find out.

Bringing herself out of her thoughts, the girl had been about to ask, but then blinked slightly in very faint surprise at realizing that the blonde had his deep blue colored eyes trained right on her. "Eh? **Now** what're ya lookin' at?"

"Well, you of course!" Casting her a cheeky grin, Prompto was barely able to hold back the laugh that wanted to burst out at the look of dumbfounded confusion on her face from his blunt response to her question. Then again, he couldn't help it. The girl was a strange one. After all, what was she doing out here with just her Chocobo as a companion to help with protecting herself against the monsters running around and the Imperials too? It didn't help matters much that he also found her to be pretty cute despite the slightly ripped baggy black capri cargo pants, almost knee high travel boots, single left fingerless glove, dark red sleeveless crop top, and the quarter sleeve black jacket with only the two center buttons snapped closed that she wore. It certainly wasn't nearly as flashy of the skin, and especially of the chest and thighs, as Cindy's outfit had been, but still. He definitely saw the appeal of this attire too. It suited this new girl that...he had yet to learn the name of... "Hey, what's your name anyways? What are you doing all the way out here without anybody to help out with all the dangers around? Er...I-I mean, anybody other than your proud and strong Chocobo here, of course!"

The sight of the black Chocobo straightening back up and leering down at him with a critical look showed why Prompto had quickly added that in. He had been about to get snapped at by a suddenly rather ornery male Chocobo...Of course, thankfully, the sight of the look he had been eyeing him with had gotten his own female Chocobo on guard as she took a step or two forward and got slightly between them as if daring the slightly larger male to try anything towards him. Prompto knew that his beautiful Levi would defend him if this Tiamat, as the girl called him, were to try to strike at him.

"I don' really see as ta how that's any of yer business on what I'm doin' out here, but if ya must know, the name's Alexandra - Alex ta my fellow coworkers - an' the reason Tiamat an' me are out here is cause we were huntin' down that big guy that we took out earlier. He had gotten a li'l too ornery fer the nearby residents of these here parts. I'm a mercenary; like a hunter that plenty of people out in the wilds are 'cept I take bounty jobs of all kinds. This includes assassination jobs or even hired help ta act as a guardian."

"Ohh, so then you've got, like, this whole wide range of jobs that you can pull. That's pretty cool. Well,...the assassination thought is a little extreme, but the rest sounds totally cool."

Cocking a brow at this, Alex shook her head before sighing softly and placing her hands upon her hips in exasperation. "Listen here, city boy. It ain' like I'd accept a job ta go an' take out royalty so that li'l Princy boy is safe from at least my comin' fer him. The types of jobs I take in that list are all fellas with bounties on their heads; wanted criminals. I don' accept assassinations on those undeservin' of it."

"Whoa, hey. I-I wasn't accusing you of anything like that. I mean, I was just-...Wait, how'd you know I was in the group with Prince Noctis?!" Eyes widening in surprise by this, he was about to panic faintly, but then felt himself blushing a bit when he saw the sly smirk suddenly form onto the faintly younger girl's features. Apparently, he had pretty much walked in on that one...

"I didn'...I do now though. Like I said though, no worries. Yer friend is safe from my targetin' him, at least. 'Sides, I ain' a fan of the Imperials anyways. Can't stand them backstabbin' types." Turning back to facing her black Chocobo, she quickly hoisted herself up onto his back and grasped firmly onto the reins as she turned him partly to the right. "Anywho, I best get a move on. Gotta turn in this here request so that the residents in these here parts can finally rest easy since this varmint's been taken care of. Ya take care now, city boy. You an' yer friends might see me again sometime though. Ya never know." Giving a light wave to Prompto, Alex casted him a playful smirk this time before taking off quickly.

Watching the girl race off into the distance in a faint daze over what all just occurred, Prompto soon snapped out of it and whined softly. "Ah man...I totally forgot to give her my name before she took off...Ah well, next time." Smiling a bit to himself now, he turned to glance up at his own teal Chocobo and raised a hand as he stroked her feathers smoothly. "Lets get back to camp, girl. I'm sure the others are up by now anyways and if we don't get back soon, we just might get a long winded lecture from Igny. Ugh..." Shuddering lightly at the mere thought of that happening and the displeased wark from his female Chocobo, Prompto hurriedly mounted her before taking off back to camp. As he did so though, he glanced down at where his camera was safely held and smiled faintly at the memory of the pictures he had taken earlier of the Bahemoth...And of the girl with the black Chocobo...

"...Alex, huh?...Man, I hope I get to see her again. She might be even better than Cindy and I didn't think that'd be possible."

Little did Prompto know, that this would only be the first of a number of encounters with Alex and Tiamat and possibly even future adventures to come with them...

 **End/To be continued.**

 _Little Tsu: I did the "end/TBC" cause I'm not sure whether ta keep this on as a one-shot, make a sequel, or continue this as a multi chap. That will be entirely up ta you guys. I jus' started playin' FFXV recently and I love the game and characters. I don' think this game gets enough attention on here and I really think Prompto deserves some attention. He's such an adorable and funny character with a lot of depth in his background and personality._

 _Anyways, hope ya enjoy._


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